Reikai

Overview

The inhabitants of Reikai, or "The Spirit World" are almost entirely yokai, which are otherworldly beings you can learn more about here: Yokai, and here: Souls and the Afterlife. The spirit world is a purgatorial plane of existance where various immortal supernatural creatures wander eternally, ensalved to their desires. The inhabitants of the Spirit World are highly diverse, strange, and usually dangerous. Certain types of yokai will often band together with their own kind, establishing villages and domains. These factions will often quarrell, rarely resulting in any conclusive or dramatic outcomes, and most things staying relatively the same for hundereds of years. The spirit world is a violent place where the strong and smart rule over the dumb and weak. Humans who by misfortune wander into the spirit world rarely live to tell the tale, though a small community of humans exists there, born of those unfortunate souls living and working together, protected by a small and rare number of beneficent and kind yokai. Yokai that are killed usually find their souls passing on to Jigoku. The Spirit World can be accessed upon death iff you become a yokai, or by passing through the barrier between it and the material world. The enterance to Jigoku also lies within the Spirit World, guarded to prevent the souls of the underwolr from escaping into the relatively better Spirit World.

Geography

The spirit world itself appears as the primitive and uncivilized state of the material world. The spirit world is overlayed directly upon the material plane, but lacks the artificial constructions of it. The spirit world also looks desolate, foggy, and bathed in unnatural colors. For example vibrant green forests might be replaced with dead trees, dark purple soil, and red skies. Some structures do still exist but they are fearsome and brutish looking buildings made by the inhabitants. Because yokai essentially rule the spirit world.

Seishin Barrier

The Seishin barrier is the border between the material world and the spirit world. It acts as something between a wall and a filter between the two worlds. Yokai and Kami typically must meet certain requirements or circumstances to be able to either cross over or influence the material world. Weaker Kami and yokai will usually have an easy time slipping through, so small and more mischievous than dangerous yokai will easily be able to interact with the material world. Conversely large and powerful yokai must meet very limited and strenuous requirements and conditions to exert influence upon the material world. Rifts in the Seishin barrier are uncommon and are usually mended by Shinto Priests, but they can present opportunities for yokai of all shapes and sizes to have easy passage across the barrier. Unfortunate mortals may unwittingly wander through these tears into another world, where they rarely if ever return. Why tears occur or how to strengthen or weaken the barrier has been a mystery to both spirits and the living for all time, but is of great interest to certain groups of questionable motive.

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